Grass or grass-like · Cyperaceae
Eastern woodland sedge
Carex blanda
Eastern woodland sedge is recorded as native to 35 states and territories in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in 1,148 counties of those states by USDA PLANTS.
Key facts · USDA PLANTS
Eastern woodland sedge at a glance
- Native in
- 1,148 counties, across 35 states and territories
- Estimated cold hardiness
- Zone 4b PLANTS minimum temperature −28°F
- Mature height
- 2 ft PLANTS mature height
- Light and water
- Tolerates shade High water use
Estimated cold hardiness: zone 4b. PLANTS gives a minimum temperature of −28°F; zone 4b winters bottom out at −25°F, the coldest half-zone that stays within that limit.
Eastern woodland sedge is recorded as native to 35 states and territories in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in 1,148 counties of those states by USDA PLANTS.
Counties where it is native
The 15 counties with the most ZIP codes among the 1,148 where it is listed.
Native counties by state
- Alabama 12 counties
- Arkansas 21 counties
- Connecticut statewide record
- Delaware 3 counties
- District of Columbia 1 county
- Florida 10 counties
- Georgia 7 counties
- Illinois 91 counties
- Indiana 78 counties
- Iowa 18 counties
- Kansas 34 counties
- Kentucky 77 counties
- Louisiana 30 counties
- Maryland 23 counties
- Massachusetts 13 counties
- Michigan 36 counties
- Minnesota 63 counties
- Mississippi 13 counties
- Missouri 106 counties
- Nebraska 35 counties
- New Jersey 12 counties
- New York 42 counties
- North Carolina 37 counties
- North Dakota 8 counties
- Ohio 40 counties
- Oklahoma 20 counties
- Pennsylvania 52 counties
- South Carolina 7 counties
- South Dakota 11 counties
- Tennessee 65 counties
- Texas 44 counties
- Virginia 71 counties
- West Virginia 19 counties
- Wisconsin 48 counties
- Wyoming 1 county
Growing traits
Values from the PLANTS characteristics record. “Not recorded” means PLANTS has no value; nothing here is estimated except the zone.
Growth
- Growth habit
- Graminoid
- Duration
- Perennial
- Mature height
- 2 ft
- Growth rate
- Slow
- Growth form
- Bunch
- Shape
- Erect
- Lifespan
- Moderate
- Active growth period
- Spring and Summer
Light and water
- Shade tolerance
- Tolerant (tolerates shade)
- Moisture use
- High water use
- Drought tolerance
- Low
- Tolerance of waterlogged soil
- High
- Precipitation range
- 36 to 60 in per year
Soil
- Soil textures
- Medium and fine
- pH range
- 4.4 to 7
- Lime (CaCO₃) tolerance
- Medium
- Salinity tolerance
- None
- Fertility requirement
- Medium
- Minimum root depth
- 8 in
Climate
- Minimum temperature
- −28°F
- Estimated cold hardiness
- Zone 4b and warmer
- Minimum frost-free days
- 95
- Fire tolerance
- High
Flowers, leaves and fruit
- Flower color
- Green
- Showy flowers
- No
- Bloom period
- Spring
- Foliage color
- Green
- Showy in fall
- No
- Keeps leaves
- No
- Fruit color
- Brown
Other
- Toxicity
- None
- Nitrogen fixation
- None
- Nursery availability
- Routinely Available
- Family
- Cyperaceae
- PLANTS symbol
- CABL
Source & data date
- Source
- USDA NRCS PLANTS Database: county distribution records, native status and plant characteristics. CC0 (public domain dedication, per the data.gov catalog record).
- Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants (WCVP): native or introduced status by state. CC BY 3.0.
- USGS US-RIIS (ver. 2.0): species listed as introduced are excluded. CC0.
- Citation
- USDA, NRCS. 2026. The PLANTS Database (https://plants.usda.gov, 11/04/2026). National Plant Data Team, Greensboro, NC USA.
- Govaerts R. (ed.) (2026). WCVP: World Checklist of Vascular Plants. Facilitated by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Data file dated 2026-06-04, http://sftp.kew.org/pub/data-repositories/WCVP/ (retrieved 2026-11-04). Paper: Govaerts R. et al. (2021) The World Checklist of Vascular Plants, a continuously updated resource for exploring global plant diversity. Scientific Data 8, 215.
- Data date
- Retrieved from PLANTS on November 4, 2026; WCVP data file dated June 4, 2026.
- Scope
- Carex blanda (PLANTS symbol CABL).
- Method
- A species is listed when it is recorded as native to the state in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in the county by USDA PLANTS. Species PLANTS labels both native and introduced are listed separately. Full method · All sources